ad astra!

Well… Joe and I just got back a little while ago from Detroit where we went to hear the new Nine Inch Nails album. It comes out May 3; Interscope records hosted a listening party. We got a little lost on the way there, but thankfully they didn’t start the album until about a quarter to ten. We brought this kid Brendan that Joe sort of likes; he’d never heard NIN before and goes to a private Catholic college in Ypsilanti so I think Joe sees it his mission to corrupt him. We did a good job tonight; he had a rum & coke and industrial music.

Only complaint: the CD skipped several times. They got another one that didn’t skip, but it would seem to me that a radio station and a record label putting on an event could pull it together enough to have a CD that’s not even out in stores that doesn’t skip.

But at any rate, the new album sounds fantastic. Trent Reznor can do amazing things with a piano. I’ve never been happier to be a NIN fan.

What else. Oh yeah! Speaking of doing amazing things with a piano, Saturday I went to see Casey Stratton perform here in Grand Rapids at the Intersection. It was a hometown show for him, so there was a lot of energy from the crowd. It was amazing to see him perform live, but not entirely new as I had my own private concert on New Year’s =P The really fun part was hanging out at Mario’s house afterward; I stayed up all night & then went in to work on Easter Sunday until 6pm, then to my dad’s until around 11 with a 20minute nap inbetween. I don’t know how I manage to do this or why I keep doing it to myself, but it was a great time with Casey and the Yahoo! Group. They are some hardcore fans, even more than me! I think the farthest drove from northern Minnesota to see the show. Oh yeah, and I made out with one of them in Mario’s kitchen. That was pretty fun! Mostly it just sort of happened, since we were sitting next to each other at the concert and had some “arm around the shoulder” moments with the music. Good music should bring people together, though, so it’s to Casey’s credit.

I recorded some audio of Casey talking about the music business, etc. Follow the link here.

I realized around 10pm Sunday that I’d had over 24 hours of nearly continuous music—we were even playing my iPod at work on Sunday—and then suddenly there I was at my Dad’s and everyone was just playing cards and it was quiet enough to hear the clock ticking… just a sort of jarring silence I’d grown unused to.

I nearly always have music playing at home, if not that then there’s the TV on and if not that then a fan for white noise. I’m sure there’s some deep psychological reason why I can’t bear silence, but I don’t want to know what it is quite yet.

“No matter how far you run you’ll always end up here next to yourself” (link) Such a good song!

I haven’t seen Charles in awhile… I’d really like to see Terry, too. But oh well. And I haven’t heard from Dino in ages, either.

There was a bunch of other stuff I wanted to post about, but I’m tired and really feeling worn out from these past few weeks. I have tomorrow off; Brad Tetlow from the Plainfield store called and asked if I could come in for a few hours, but I think I really need this day to myself and I don’t have any clean underwear!

Casey Stratton’s concert is tonight at the Interection.

Warning: long post ahead

Full week’s recap:

It’s Tuesday and I still feel like I’m reeling from last week. I must be getting old. It all started a week ago when this girl Angie from work asked me out last Tuesday. She’s new in town, 24, and a girl. As I understand it, it is more difficult for women to go out and make friends that it is for guys. I guess it’s difficult for nearly everyone in our society, but my point is she met me and I’m near her age so she wanted to hang out.

There’s that “out” word again, something that hadn’t come up but I knew when the opportunity presented itself I’d have to jump on it and it’d have to be early in the evening. I’ll my best to recreate the conversation:

Tuesday

Angie: What’s Joe doing tonight?
Paul: I don’t know. to Joe Do you want to come with us?
Joe: Sure. Let me do something with my hair.
Paul: It’s ok, we’re not going to the gay bar.
Angie: Is Joe gay?
Paul: No, Joe’s bi. I’m the gay one.
Angie: surprisedReally?
Paul: Yeah. I’m gonna make a drink…
Angie: runs over to Paul and pounces on him Paul that’s so cool! I’ve always wanted a gay friend!
Paul: takes long pull on his drink

And the rest of the night was pretty much Angie being gleeful to have a gay friend and then getting real drunk. We took her home, she was going to puke but then decided she wasn’t. We drank and talked until around 6am, then Joe and I walked home.

Wednesday

Was spent in recovery and working a 2-10 shift.

Thursday: Straight Bar. Green Beer.

St. Patrick’s day. I worked until 8, then around 9:30 met Angie at Tap’s until around midnight or so when I was absolutely tired of hip hop and straight people, so I dragged her to Diversions where she and I got more drunk and she ended up making out with a girl. Fun!

Friday

I worked off my hang over and insufficient sleep and came to Discussions while I waited for Zac to drive up from Indiana as he was in the country (the Zac chronicles are back in the July Archive) from Japan. He brought me an entorage. I have to pull the pictures off my camera and post them soon and send them to Zac as well, but it was a great time. They didn’t get in town until midnight, so I should put this as a

Saturday

entry. Zac brought me Amanda, Tim, and Mikey. Mikey is under 21, so he can’t club in Indiana. Unfortunately Diversions is notoriously slow on a Friday night, but we ended up there anyway. I got just a little buzz going a then went home and the drinking really started. It was a great gathering in my apartment; I always have a good time with Zac and Mikey was cute. Tim was outrageous, and Amanda is just awesome. Even Joe, an avowed arch enemy of Zac, had fun. Joe and I both noticed that Zac has grown up a bit in Japan. I’m proud of him, even.

Joe also got a new nickname: Peas. Because one morning he had peas for breakfast. Peas, dude. Peas. So I tell everyone about it. So we call him Peas.

I woke up around 11am or so, after going to bed around 6am (again) and was still sort of buzzed. Which was… gross. I showered and putzed around waiting for everyone to get conscious, then we went to Burger King to harass Joe but he was too busy. I then started making plans for our trip to see Steamboy.

This trip was to join the forces of Peas, Chris, Charles, and I in one car for a two hour trip. We met up with Brad in Ann Arbor, ran into Louie from Kalamazoo on the street, and then it was time for the movie to start at 11:45 which quickly meant that it would

soon be

Sunday

We watched most of Steamboy on this day. It was absolutely visually amazing. Given that it was from the creator and director of Akira, the seminal anime, it’s not surprising. What it lacked in terms of plot and character development (though I’m more focused on the latter than the former) it made up absolutley in its stunning beauty and directoral style. I can remember one scene in particular where a technique I’d only seen used in videogames was utilized: early in the film two characters have to make their escape from some bad guys and as they run out of the room and around a staircase the camera rotates around the room with the characters at the center. A simple jump cut to another POV would’ve been conventional, but Katsuhiro �tomo knows better. He knows better in other sequences, as well—the reveal of the Steam Castle is akin to some of the best transformation anime, and most of the action shots are well done. This one definatley deserves a place in my collection and subsequent viewing(s).

After the movie the five of us ended up at Steak’n Shake (I got lost in the dense fog) until around 5am. Chris and Joe sat in the back, and Charles rode shotgun. They talked videogames and Charles and I talked about life. We got home just before 8, I passed out and spent most of Sunday in front of the TV.

Monday

I was back at work. I saw Terry there but we didn’t speak much. He was, in fact, kind of rude to me. After work Charles and Chris came over. We installed MacOS 10.3 on Charles’ new (used) iBook. Charles eventually left and Joe took Chris home and stayed to watch Kill Bill Vol 1. This caused a great deal of consternation for Charles so I stayed up

until

around 5am on

Tuesday

chatting with him over AIM. It was also during this time that he said “I can’t like you that way” and revealed that last week’s cuddling had been merely a manoeuvre to get me into bed and distract himself from Chris. Thanks for playing tiddlywinks with my heart, dude.

Then I slept for about three hours and Joe brought the car back late. So I was late for work and got kind of chewed out by Mary “Frustrating” Bennett but she really has nowhere to talk as she’s late all the time as well.

So this week has been filled with Real Human Drama. I think I need some time away. The good part is I actually feel closer to Joe. I feel like this drama has brought us back to the level we were on when I was living with Josh and Jay and (other) Joe back in Kalamazoo. I feel better about living with Joe and being his friend for some reason. And in reading July’s archives, I miss Josh. Jordan, too. We had a cool night at Rockestar cafe back in July waiting for iTunes to hit 1,000,000 songs. In retrospect it was way more awesome than it seemed; for us to be together on a muggy July night, enjoying each others company. That’s what this real human drama is really all about, after all.

If we’re lucky enough, we get the privilege to share a few hours of each other’s time together on this spinning blue ball.

Fuck you and your Republican scum. This email is from Senator John Kerry, whom 51% of this country did not have the wherewithal to elect to our nation’s highest office because they lacked the intelligence to recognize that he could truly and faithfully lead America in a direction that our legacy deserves; for that ignorance they are going to pay with not only the destruction of our social safety net for elder Americans, not only the taking for granted of America’s rightful and respected place in the world as a peacemaker, but now with the squandering of our beautiful natural resources. That’s right: I just said that half of America is fucking stupid. And if you voted for Bush—even if you’re family— that means you’re imbeciles!!! Fuck you people!!!!

Dear Paul,

Yesterday, we saw a relentless Republican attack on one of our most treasured natural wonders sneak through the Senate on a 51 to 49 vote. But, we also saw more than 260,000 Americans act in less than 24 hours to add their names to our Citizens’ Roll Call in favor of protecting the Arctic Refuge.

It was the first time ever that I or anyone else could stand on the Senate floor and announce that, in a day’s time, a quarter of a million Americans had gone online to express their passionate support for a given course of action.

That awesome display of grassroots power rattled our opponents. They even railed against my e-mail message on the Senate floor and entered its text into the Senate record. So, think of it this way. The Republican leaders of the Senate have 51 reasons to celebrate today, but you and I have 260,000 reasons to do the same.

If we keep working together – committed pro-environment Senators and a powerful grassroots movement all pulling in the same direction – we can still stop the plan for drilling in the Arctic from making it the rest of the way through Congress. And we can win the larger battle over two very different visions of America’s energy future.

George W. Bush and the Washington Republicans have a plan to sell off our public lands to powerful special interests. As a result of their ruthless drive to undermine America’s most beautiful natural treasures, the oil rigs are closer to the Arctic Refuge than they have ever been. But, the Bush administration’s own scientists and economists admit that the Republicans’ plan will not make us less dependent on foreign oil and will not lower prices at the pump. We have to put America’s energy future in the hands of Americans – by inventing our way to real energy independence and having energy sources that create jobs and lower prices.

With your help, we will continue to wholeheartedly resist their special interest-funded partisan agenda. And, if we act with the same energy and determination as we have on this critical Arctic Refuge vote, sooner than later, our power and commitment will carry the day. I know you will be with me every step of the way and I thank you for the passion and energy that you bring to our work together.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

P.S. I told you that more than a quarter of a million people signed our Citizens’ Roll Call in the first 24 hours after we launched it. Actually the news is even more impressive. As of this moment, there are over 400,000 signers to our Roll Call, including tens of thousands who signed after the vote to express their determination to keep fighting. Let’s keep working.

Wow. I Googled myself and apparently I’m so freakin’ gay that the third result links to a column I wrote in 1996(!!!) about being gay and coming out and PFLAG. The third result!! I guess that’s what happens when you’re out and on the internet for 10 years. Still it feels kind of weird to think that anyone could decide to Google me and find that out right away. But it is something I like to clear up when meeting a non-gay stranger…

And oh yeah, anyone who reads this and hasn’t yet been clued in—the clue phone just rang and it’s for you! You’re 10 years too late.

More Gay News:
I hung out with this guy at the left. His name is Charles and he’s a friend of Chris Roller and has a big crush on him. Which sucks because I guess Chris doesn’t feel the same way. We met at Discussions Cafe and then walked back to my place to watch the Tribbles episode of DS9 because I hadn’t seen it and it’s Charles’ favorite. It was pretty cool to be able to geek out with another guy as it doesn’t happen all that often. He’s a sweet guy (and totally handsome) and I think we get along alright. Because of the Chris situation I’m not pushing for anything more, I’m just trying to be my nice guy self (maybe too much, but I think he deserves it) and I’m sure I’ll get whatever I’m supposed to get out of our being two human beings out of five billion who are lucky to have met each other.

Geek News:
Amazon Yellow pages has this really awesome thing called “Block View” that lets you see a street level view of businesses listed in their yellow pages. Check out this image of my favorite Borders store at 100 Broadway.
And Google SMS finally works on my cell phone.
And Google Maps totally rules.
And I got iPod Socks this weekend.

That’s all for now. I’m tired and I have to work at the shittiest pharmacy ever tomorrow.

I went to Beat Goes On to get tickets for Casey Stratton’s show on the 26th and I noticed that Mario (the owner) has Captain & Tennille dolls that are personally autographed to him… I have to get pictures the next time I’m there.

What really great is that Wikipedia has an article on Captain & Tennille. I giggled.

Delivered at 10:17am, my new iPod photo has arrived!

While I was displeased to find it doesn’t include a Firewire cable (the iPod photo is definately aimed at PC users) I’ve already got one so it’s not a problem. The USB cable is noticably shorter than the Firewire one, however. I’ve also got two chargers now, which should come in handy somehow. First thing I did was load all my music on it, then I fired up Shuffle Songs. Here’s the first ten to play on my iPod:

Now I’ve got to go get a new iPod case.

For some reason, my new iPod shipped from Shanghia, China and as of this post has arrived in Anchorage, AK.

I guess there must’ve not been any in the US, and they must make them in Shanghai. Dino has another theory:

Dino: it’s really shipping out of their warehouse in alabama. they just have a random generator talking about where it’s shipping to and from. it’s part of the “customer experience”
Me: you’re right, but I’d rather have it hand delivered to me with a full charge and all my music on it in time for my drive to work tomorrow.

And yes, that’s R. Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Map.

Thanks to the International Date Line, my iPod actually arrived in Anchorage hours before it left Shanghai.

In Memoriam
My first iPod March 2004 — March 2005
For a year’s worth of new music, old favorites
and forever a tune to carry me through every day of my life,
I thank you, my little white friend.

  My new 30gb iPod photo shipped today.

I’d really like a strong turnout from my NYC people.

Here’s the info:

Casey Stratton Live!
Wednesday March 9
at The Bitter End
147 Bleeker Street
Between Thompson & LaGuardia, West Village
212-673-7030
http://www.bitterend.com/

Please please make time and go see him, he is one of the deepest, most beautiful musicians out there today; I had the privilege of hearing his latest work on New Year’s and you would all be better for it for seeing his live show. Go!!

I’m keeping myself awake trying to make myself comprehend how someone I love maybe more than anyone else was not even five feet from me just a few days ago and is now 800 miles away. Right now my heart and my head just can’t fathom the distance between us and it makes my soul ache.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m dumping Haloscan in the next few days right fucking now since 1.) They suck and 2.) Blogger’s commenting system has vastly improved since it was first introduced. The other big reason is that it appears that someone was running a Trojan or something on SBC’s IP bundle 69.209.112.xxx so Haloscan banned all the IPs in this range and I can’t even post a comment on my own blog. While I appreciate proactive measures in order to ensure security, I don’t appreciate not being able to administrate the security measures myself. So I’m dumping Haloscan and rolling over to Blogger comments. I’m pretty sure this means that all comments are going to be lost (cry) if I ever do a complete republish after a template update, but for the meantime I will simply change it on the front page.

For the record, the “Every journey begins with a single step” post happened because I was watching Trigun and Vash the Stampede said it, not directed at any particular person. Sorry. Oh and Dino, it does suck stepping into that dogshit—thanks for being so damned upbeat.

Haloscan is nice enough to have RSS, so you can get the last batch of comments via rss.

For some random reason, I had “Kentucky Rain” stuck in my head today, so I had to go download it with a Pepsi cap. I don’t really consider myself an Elvis fan, but I think any serious music collection needs to include some of his work.

Originally released as a single in 1969, and produced by Chips Moman it notably excluded the hand of his manager Tom Parker. The single (and his current album at the time, From Elvis in Memphis) represented both a comeback and a new direction for The King, one that came to a head with the release of “Suspicious Minds”. The tone of these singles and album set the bar for popular music in the early 1970s and Elvis has of course influenced popular music and stardom for decades since his debut. And he still gets #1s in this century with rereleases of his material.

When I was younger my parents had one of those huge console stereos with AM/FM tuner and turntable in a big cabinet, filled with 45s and 33s. I remember sitting in my pajamas in the living room listening to my mom’s records for hours on end. In fact, some of the first songs I have a conscious memory of enjoying are Elvis’ “Kentucky Rain” and “Suspicious Minds” (along with my aunt’s copy of the White Album). I want to say they were on the same 45, but according to Ebay the twain have never met. I have no idea what happened to all my mom’s records after she died (I’m guessing my Grandma or brother have them somewhere) but I don’t have a turntable to play them on anyway.

“Kentucky Rain” is probably the first or second song I remember and one of the first to which I understood the lyrics. It was what started making music so important to me, it was with this song I realized that (popular) music wasn’t only about the instruments playing a tune but how it goes along with the story told through the lyrics…

What I remember being impressed with is the driving beat, the ascending and descending chords of the chorus, the horn refrain, and the desperation in Elvis’ voice; I can still hear it today as he searches for an unnamed woman in the cold Kentucky rain.

Download “Kentucky Rain” here [3.1mb MP3]

Elvis Presley :: From Elvis in Memphis (Reissue) :: Kentucky Rain
Seven lonely days
And a dozen towns ago
I reached out one night
And you were gone
Don’t know why you’d run,
What you’re running to or from
All I know is I want to bring you home

So I’m walking in the rain,
Thumbing for a ride
On this lonely Kentucky back road
I’ve loved you much too long
And my love’s too strong
To let you go, never knowing
What went wrong

Kentucky rain keeps pouring down
And up ahead’s another town
That I’ll go walking through
With the rain in my shoes,
Searchin for you
In the cold Kentucky rain,
In the cold Kentucky rain

Showed your photograph
To some old gray bearded men
Sitting on a bench
Outside a general store
They said yes, she’s been here
But their memory wasn’t clear
Was it yesterday,
No, wait—the day before

So I finally got a ride
With a preacher man who asked
Where you bound on such a dark afternoon?
As we drove on through the rain
As he listened I explained
And he left me with a prayer
That I’d find you

Kentucky rain keeps pouring down
And up ahead’s another town
That I’ll go walking through
With the rain in my shoes,
Searchin’ for you
In the cold Kentucky rain
In the cold Kentucky rain
In the cold Kentucky rain
In the cold Kentucky rain
In the cold Kentucky rain…

Every journey begins with a single step.